


stop the world it's only you

by cinderfell



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Background Grog/Keyleth, Background Pike/Vax, Beach Volleyball, Beaches, Established Relationship, F/M, Mostly Fluff, Scars
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 17:44:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12113919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cinderfell/pseuds/cinderfell
Summary: The gang takes a trip to the beach. Vex tries to help Percy get comfortable.





	stop the world it's only you

**Author's Note:**

> lowkey written for hani because of [this beach art](http://metres.tumblr.com/post/163547983567/see-new-feh-event-think-about-a-critrole-beach) she did for perc and vex a month or two ago that i loved, originally intended to be like a 1k word drabble about beach smooches that instead became, well, this.
> 
> i listened to "heavy" by oh wonder _so much_ while writing this. title from that.

"Hey, you know what we've never done in the three years we've all been friends?" 

Pike's question makes the entire group pause, all of them gathered around a table eating lunch ( _brunch_ , Percy insists, but none of them listen) at a little hole-in-the-wall diner in downtown Whitestone. 

"Four," Vex chimes in, and Pike looks at her funny. 

"Four what?" Pike's eyebrows scrunch up. 

"Four years. We've all been friends for almost four years now." Vex takes a bite of her cinnamon toast, turning slightly to look at Pike and leaning against Percy's side as she does. 

Pike thinks for a moment, then her eyes go wide. "Fuck, it _has_ been." 

"What haven't we done?" Scanlan cuts in. 

"Oh, right!" Pike's face lights up, turning to grin at Vax, who smiles back at her, clearly in on whatever Pike's idea is. "We've never gone to the beach together as a group!" 

Keyleth promptly drops her fork onto her plate with a clatter and claps her hands together in excitement, a big grin spreading across her face. "Oh my gosh! You're right!" 

Grog furrows his brows. "I don't get it. What's so great about the beach? It's just sand and water." 

"Come on big man, don't you want to slam dunk me into the water?" Vax asks with a sly smile. "Smash a volleyball in my face?" 

After a moment, Grog quietly goes, "I do want that." 

Vax laughs. "That's the spirit, Grog!" 

Grog twists to look at Pike. "Pike, I changed my mind. I wanna go to the beach and kick Vax's ass." 

"Where were you thinking of going?" Scanlan asks, leaning his cheek against his hand. 

Pike gives a little shrug. "I don't know. Just… a lake, I suppose?" 

"You know," Percy begins slowly, and Vex tilts her head to look at him, "there technically is a lake about twenty minutes north of the city that has a beach that's the property of the de Rolo family." 

A long silence falls over the group. 

Finally, Vex says, "Wait, Percival, you own a fucking _beach_?" 

Percy lets out a small laugh at that. "Technically!" 

Vex reaches up and grabs him by the shoulders, giving him a little shake. "Darling! You own a beach and you didn't tell me!" Wait. Vex shakes him again. "Percival! I married you!" 

Percy laughs harder. "Yes, dear!" 

"That means it's my beach too! I'm a de Rolo!" 

"You are! And yes, technically it is your beach too!" 

Vex, at a loss for words beyond this revelation, simply grabs Percy by the sides of his face and plants one on him hard. She feels him startle against her lips, a low rumble of a surprised laugh against her mouth before he melts into her. 

"Gross," Vax says from across the table. Scanlan wolf whistles. Vex flips both of them off before she finally releases her husband, leaving him with a dopey smile on his face. 

"If you're really okay with us using it, Percy, that would be great!" Pike's grin is massive now. 

Vax reaches over and nudges Scanlan. "You gonna ask if it's a nude beach?" 

Scanlan shoots him an offended look. "Please, Vax. If anything you or Vex should be asking. I'm pretty sure we've all seen you two naked more than anybody else." 

_"Hey,"_ Vax says, at the same time that Vex says, "That's fair." 

"I'll talk to Cassandra and see if she's interested in coming too," Percy says after a moment, coming back to himself after his wife's streak attack kisses as he raises his coffee up to his lips to take a sip. Vex takes the opening to reach over and stab a piece of scrambled egg off his plate with her fork and nab it. He gives her an offended look. "Really?" 

"Married," she says around a mouthful of egg, raising up her left hand and wriggling her fingers to show off the ring. "What's yours is mine." 

"And what's _yours_ is _mine_ ," he says, and with lightning reflexes he grabs a piece of cinnamon toast from her plate before she can react. She pouts at him in response. "Married, remember?" 

And so they plan. 

* * *

Cassandra declines the invitation, citing previous engagements related to work - although Vex suspects she's just not comfortable going out with them all as a group, and vows to take her sister-in-law out some time, be it with Percy or just for a ladies night - but points them to the beach north of Whitestone, one that the de Rolo family apparently used to go occasionally. Three days later on a nice Saturday evening, they all drive up to the lake. 

"It looks the same," Percy observes when they climb out of his truck, the two of them parked behind Pike's minivan as the rest of the group unpacks themselves from it like a bunch of sardines, Grog in particular looking relieved to be out of the car. 

Vex raises an eyebrow, picking her towel up and slinging it over her shoulder. "When was the last time you were out here?" 

"God, I don't even know." Percy shakes his head as he walks around to the bed of his truck and pulls the large umbrella they stuck back there out. "Maybe ten years ago now? I stopped going on trips to the beach with the rest of the family because it meant I could work without worrying about interruptions, even if it was just for a few hours." 

"Must be weird coming back after all that time," she guesses. He gives a tiny shrug in response, then a contemplative hum. 

"A bit." The two of them watch the rest of the group haul their things down to the beach and begin setting up. Grog and Keyleth packed light; Scanlan comes prepared as if he's about to start glamping on the beach; Pike and Vax are a nice middle ground, prepared but not overly so. "It's good to be here with family again, I suppose." 

Vex turns to look at him again, her heart welling up at his words. "It is, isn't it?" 

He smiles at her then, soft and fond and his eyes full of so many things as he looks at her that she suddenly wants to hug him. Instead, she settles for reaching over and taking his hand in hers and twining their fingers together as they walk down to the beach to be with their family. 

They chose to set up a little bit away from everybody else, enough where they have some space for themselves without straight up isolating themselves from the rest of the group. 

Almost as soon as they pick their spot, Vex pulls her shirt up over her head and discards it next to their bags before kicking off her flip flops and shimmying out of her jean shorts, leaving her in the cute bikini she bought the day before. (And it was _on sale_ , too, as she giddily told Percy after she came home from errands.) She stretches, already relishing the heat of the sun against her bare skin. Catching Percy's appreciative gaze as he watches her, she throws a wink over her shoulder at him and delights in the way he blushes, as if he hasn't been on the receiving end of many of her winks in the past. 

After his lovely distraction is done stripping, Percy finishes setting up their little area, laying down their towels beneath the big umbrella they brought. Looking satisfied with himself, he sits right down. 

"Percy," she says when she notices that he hasn't stripped down at all, "what's up with the hoodie?" 

He looks startled at the question, almost like he somehow thought he'd get away with it. "What do you mean?" 

"Well, darling, it's eighty degrees, there's not a cloud in the sky, and we're at a beach." She gestures around them, coming down to crouch in front of where he's sitting in the shade of their umbrella. "It's not exactly hoodie weather, is it?" 

He awkwardly shifts, a faint blush creeping over his face. "I'll stay in the shade." 

She giggles, crouching down beside him. "I don't think that will help much, Percy." 

"I'll burn," he says, and she laughs louder at that. 

"Well, lucky for you I brought sunscreen because I foresaw my husband becoming a lobster on a trip to the beach." She gestures at the bag she dropped next to him. 

That at least coaxes a faint smile from him. "You're too good to me," he murmurs. 

"I think I'm perfectly reasonable with how good I am to the love of my life." His face turns a deeper shade of red. "But really, you should take off the hoodie. I don't want you dying from overheating, alright?" 

"Vex," he says, except now there's a genuine note of distress in his voice that makes her pause. 

"Yes?" 

He tries to say something, fumbles, clears his throat, and tries again. In a creaking voice, he manages, "My back." 

"Your back?" she repeats, staring at him. 

He nods. 

Suddenly it clicks. 

The scars that run a long most of his body, the worst of them on his back, faded after many years but still impossible to miss. The ones he still shies away from showing her even now, the ones he shivers at when she runs her hands over them and she just feels _anger_ and so, so much sadness. An ugly reminder of a darker time before she knew him. 

She puts a hand over her mouth. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even consider--" 

The pained expression on his face instantly vanishes at her look of horror over her own insensitivity, his eyes softening as he looks at her. Percy reaches out and takes her hands in his, pulling them to him so he can press kisses again every one of her knuckles, lips lingering at the golden band on her left hand. 

"You're fine," he says against the metal before he moves over and kisses the knuckle of her pinkie. "It's silly anyways." 

"It's not silly," she protests, then glances over her shoulder at the rest of the group before lowering her voice. "Percy, that's perfectly reasonable." 

"I don't--" he starts to argue, but sees her serious expression and relents. "If you say it is." 

"It is," she reassures. "Do you have a shirt you can wear instead?" 

He shakes his head. "I just bought the hoodie because I was going to take it off, but once I got down here and everybody started stripping, I-- well. You know." 

"I do." She pulls her hands from his grasp and smoothes them down his chest, relieved to find that the fabric of the hoodie he chose isn't heavy. "You don't have to take it off of you don't want to, darling." 

He looks down at his body with a frown, at where she rests her hands on him. He clears his throat. "It isn't as bad in the front." 

With that, Percy reaches up and slowly unzips the front of his hoodie, revealing the pale plane of skin, speckled with scars here and there but not nearly as heavily marked as his back. He lets out a deep sigh, a look of relief crossing his face. "Okay, that's already a hundred times better." 

She can't help but crack a tiny smile. "That's good." 

Reaching over, Percy unzips his bag and pulls out a book. "To be perfectly honest, I probably was just going to sit in the shade anyways, so you can go swim or play volleyball or, well, whatever you want." 

"Are you sure you're okay with that?" she asks. "I can sit with you if you want." 

"No, I'm perfectly fine. You don't have to keep me company. Besides, I really wanted to read this book, and this seems like the perfect time to do so." 

She's quiet for a minute. Finally, she says, "Nerd." 

He snorts. "Maybe so." 

With a sigh, Vex reaches out and takes his hand again. "Just tell me if you need anything, okay?" 

"Hey," Percy says softly, squeezing her hand, "look at it this way, I could've always gone the exact opposite way with how I dressed and-- well, your brother." 

"My brother?" Vex repeats, confused. 

"Your brother," he affirms, nodding at something behind her. 

She glances over her shoulder and back towards the rest of the group and-- 

Oh. 

_Oh._

"Why have you done this?" Vex asks flatly as she turns to face her brother, trying to maintain eye contact with her him while refusing to look down at the awful, pitiful excuse for a bathing suit he's wearing. 

"What?" Vax says innocently as he spins to look at her, as if he doesn't know exactly what she's talking about. 

"The swimsuit, Vax," she says, "or maybe it's better to say your lack of one." 

"What, don't you know?" His eyes glimmer with amusement, his mouth quirked up on one side. "Swimsuits like this reduce water resistance and--" 

"I fucking hate you," Vex says before he can finish. 

"I fucking love you," Pike says from beside Grog, unabashedly drinking in Vax's form. 

Vax turns and gives the little woman a thumbs up. "See? Pike appreciates fine swimsuit quality." 

"Among other things," Scanlan chimes in. Pike high fives him. 

"It _is_ very small," Keyleth says, not looking directly at Vax. 

"Very small," Grog agrees with a smirk, and Vax sticks his tongue out at him. 

"Disgusting," Vex says, before leaning back to kiss Percy on the cheek. "I'm going to go swim and ignore my brother's current state of dress. I love you, darling." 

Percy chuckles. "You too, Vex." 

She gets about six steps before a thought suddenly occurs to Vex. Her stomach twists at the thought in question, so she turns to Percy awkwardly, taking the few steps so she's in front of him again. He looks up in surprise at her when he sees that she's come right back, his book already open in his lap. 

She twists her ring on her finger, biting her lip. "Hey." 

Percy raises an eyebrow at her. "What is it, dear?" 

"Would it-- um, do you think it would be bad for me to take off my ring?" Vex asks, and then immediately feels herself flush with embarrassment. "Like, I understand I shouldn't take it off, and I don't want to, but I suddenly just got really worried about it somehow coming off in the lake and me losing it and not being able to find it because, well, it's a lake, and--" 

Percy suddenly reaches out and takes her left hand in his, a fond look on his face. "Dear, you're rambling." 

She gives a small, short laugh. "Am I?" 

"You are." With that, he slowly pulls the ring off her finger and holds it up where she can see it before he put it in the side pocket of his bag, making sure she sees where it is. "There. Safe and sound." 

"I-- thank you," she finally manages, relaxing. After a moment, she leans forward and kisses him, his hand coming up to rest on her shoulder. Then she pulls away with a small sigh, letting her forehead rest against his. "I'm sorry I can be a bit silly sometimes." 

"It's okay. You're just thinking too much," he says, and takes her face in his hands before tilting her head so he can kiss her forehead, and oh, she wishes she could put into words exactly the feelings it stirs in her chest when he does that, because it's unlike anything else. "And besides, you know I can be a bit silly too." 

God, but she does love him. 

* * *

The water is nice. She hasn't been to the beach in many years, or gone swimming for that matter, and when she steps into the water she almost yelps at how cold it is. Well, she certainly forgot about that part. She wades in anyways, and after a few minutes she doesn't even notice the chill. She stays out there for a while just enjoying herself, occasionally splashing water at Vax when he comes near her pretending to be a shark like they're ten years old again. It's nice. 

Really, really nice. 

Eventually, though, Pike and Grog decide it's time to break out the volleyball, and Vex is all too eager to climb out of the water for that. Since Percy isn't playing-- and she stops over by him to check in, and he is perfectly content and partially through his book-- they have a perfect split for girls and boys, and really, Vex could not be happier to have Pike on her team. 

Pike waves excitedly at the boys before she serves, and when she serves-- hoo boy. It's a hard serve but Grog gets it, just barely, and sends it back their way. It's a nice back and forth for a while, but eventually Pike hits it again and Vax, fast as he is, flubs his dive for it and ends up eating sand in vain, earning laughter from everybody else. 

After a moment Vax groans, sitting up in the sand and brushing it off his arms and chest. With a sly grin, Pike steps easily under the net and tiptoes over to him. She dusts some sand out of his ponytail when she reaches him, leaning down to press a kiss against his temple. 

Vax feigns a grumpy expression but it fails, his frown giving way to a dopey smile. "You kicked my ass." 

Pike smiles sweetly at him. "As it should be." 

From behind them, Grog raises a hand and goes, "I wanna kick his ass next, Pike." 

Hand in hand with Pike as she helps him stand up, Vax looks over his shoulder at the big man with a bit of a dopey grin. "Well, you did want to come here specifically to smash a volleyball in my face, and that's pretty hard to do when we're on the same team." 

"No," Grog says with a frown. "Pass me the ball and I'll do it right now. It's easy." 

Vax visibly pales. 

Vex snorts, ducking under the net to touch her brother's shoulder, dusting him off a bit more. "Hey, I'm down for a team shake up." She nudges Vax. "Team Captains, then? Because if so I have dibs on Grog for obvious reasons." 

"I have Pickle," Vax says quickly, and Pike blows him a kiss. 

"I want--" Vex begins, but Keyleth has now begun jumping in place excitedly back on their side of the net, waving her hand in the air like a student who knows the answer. Vex laughs at that. "Well, I suppose I'm choosing the eager one. No offense, Scanlan." 

"None taken," the short man says. He's been absolutely useless so far, simply ducking out of the way whenever the ball comes anywhere near him, and at one point even visibly watching the ball drop at his feet and not reaching for it. He's a liability, really, but Vax has Pike on his team, so it probably evens out. 

"Sounds good to me," Vax says with a grin, and then they're off. 

They play for another half hour, and Vax's team gets a head start but are quickly overpowered by Vex's team. Vax is quick and Pike is a hard hitter, but Scanlan's disinterest in the actual game beyond participating only by standing there takes its toll. Grog does not, in fact, smash Vax in the face with a volleyball, but Keyleth does on accident and they decide to call the game there. 

"I'm so, _so_ sorry!" Keyleth tells Vax frantically for the sixth time, the man in question wincing as he holds a tissue to his bleeding nose. 

"It's fine," Vax manages, his words muffled against the tissue and half-garbled from the bloody nose. Pike sits next to him in the sand, checking him over. Well, Vex thinks with some amusement, at least Vax has a nurse for a girlfriend. With how prone he is to injury, it must really come in handy. 

Grog rests a hand on Keyleth's shoulder, and Keyleth is tall but Grog practically dwarfs her. "Not your fault, Kiki. It was an accident." 

"Yeah," she replies half-heartedly, glancing between Grog and Vax. 

"Hey," Vax says after clearing his throat. "Look at it this way-- Grog didn't get to smash me in the face with a volleyball, but his girlfriend did, so really you're just making good on his promise." 

Keyleth lets out a tiny chuckle before covering her mouth with her hand, almost like she's worried it's not right to laugh. Grog, however, has no such issues, laughing loudly. 

"What's with you and balls, Vax?" Scanlan wonders aloud, taking a seat next to Pike and Vax in the sand. Pike reaches over and whacks him on the shoulder. 

Snorting in amusement now that she knows her brother is okay, Vex glances over at where she left Percy. He's still sitting under their big blue umbrella, still bundled up-- and she's grateful it's cooled down even more for him, even if it's making her shiver now, although she's always been a bit sensitive to the cold so maybe that's just her-- but with his novel sitting off to the side. Instead, he now has a notebook sitting in his lap, a pencil in hand as he scribbles away in it. 

She makes her way over to him again. He doesn't even notice her presence until her shadow blocks out his light, and when that happens he squints up at her. God, she really needs to remind him to get prescription sunglasses or something. She silently snorts at the image of him with sunglasses in the same style as his normal glasses, round and gold with dark lenses. 

"What'cha doin'?" Vex asks, crouching down next to him and looking at his notebook, her hands clasped behind her back. Her question is almost immediately answered: drawing her, apparently. The others are there here and there too, including a rather endearing doodle of Vax face-first in the sand with a lump on his head and volleyball next to him, however she's the one taking up the majority of the page. "Ah." 

Percy blushes a little bit, just like he always does when she sees his sketches of her. "Sorry. It was a good game." 

"Very inspiring, I see," she says with a smile. She points at a doodle of her in the top right, one of her serving the ball. "I like this one. You always make me look so good." 

He laughs at that. "Well, I'm just drawing what's there. You look good in my sketch because you look good." After a moment he adds, "Although the sketch pales to reality." 

Feeling a warmth rise to her face, she settles down in the shade with him, still on her knees. "Well, you sure are a flatterer today." 

"I try," he says softly, reaching out to tuck a stray piece of hair behind one of her ears, his fingers lingering at the sides of her face, the almost-sort-of touch making her face heat up further. 

"I think we're done with volleyball for now," she says, glancing back at the rest of the group, and his eyes follow hers. Indeed, it appears Pike has settled Vax down on a towel (and his nose has stopped bleeding, it seems, which is good) while Scanlan sits nearby chatting with them. Grog and Keyleth have gone back into the water, and he is currently in the process of picking her up and throwing the happily squealing woman further into the lake. Keyleth disappears under the water, only to resurface with a vengeance moments later and begin attempting to dunk Grog under. 

Ah, love. 

"What are you going to do?" Percy asks, and she looks back at him. He has an expression she can't quite place. 

She tilts her head slightly. "Mmm, I'm not sure? I may swim for a little bit and come up here with you for the rest of it. I forgot how tiring beach days can get." 

Percy goes quiet for a long time, long enough where she begins to worry. His expression becomes even stranger, if possible, and almost contemplative. For a moment, Vex wonders if she said something wrong, if he's getting lonely all by himself but doesn't want to take up her time, or-- 

"I want to go in the water," he says finally, glancing beyond her at the lake. 

_Oh_. 

Her eyes go wide. "Really? I mean, darling, you don't have to if you don't want to! If you're just doing this for me--" 

"I'm not, although if me going into the water with you makes you happy then I'm certainly not complaining." 

"It would make me very happy," she admits, then quickly adds, "Although not if you feel uncomfortable and are pushing yourself to do something you don't want to." 

He lifts and hand and rubs the back of his neck, looking almost a little bit bashful. "I _am_ pushing myself, but that's okay. I think sometimes you need to." He glances at the group, then back at her, and his eyes are warm as he looks her over. "And besides, I'm with family. If ever there's a time to push myself, it's with all of you with me." 

God. _God_ , she loves him so fucking much. 

Slowly, Vex gets to her feet, feeling a little wobbly at his words but steadying herself. Then she reaches out a hand for him and he takes it, his fingers warm against hers as she helps lift him to his feet. 

She reaches up and plucks the glasses off of him, folding them up in one hand and letting it rest on his shoulder while the other settles on his chest, skin warm to her touch. Her fingers creep beneath the fabric of the hoodie, not pulling it off but just teasing the edges. "You know you're handsome, yes? Scars and all." 

His gaze softens, the blue of his eyes almost lilac-tinged in this light. "Sometimes I wonder, but I trust you." 

"As you should. I'm very trustworthy." She leans forward on her tiptoes, her nose brushing against his. "Also I married you, so if you didn't trust me that would probably be a problem." 

"Probably," he agrees. He slides a hand around her waist, fingers splaying across the small of her back before he tugs her closer to him, pressing her sun-warmed skin against his. His other hand reaches up and finds hers. "Although luckily for us we're part of an exceptionally healthy marriage built off of mutual trust, friendship, and understanding." 

She practically purrs, leaning forwards so her lips nearly graze his but not letting them actually touch. "Mmm, Percival, you sure know how to talk dirty to a lady, don't you?" 

He chokes on his own laughter, a startled grin sweeping across his face. "Oh, hush, you." 

"No, really! Nothing is hotter than a healthy dynamic." 

"God, but I don't think I can argue with you." 

"And why would you?" she says smugly, tilting her head a little bit more, her lips just a breath away from his. 

He chuckles. "Honestly, I can't fathom why I would. Arguing with you is never wise." 

"Smart man." 

He finally closes the distance between them and she's unable to keep a smile off her face as his lips touch hers. 

They're a few steps away from the umbrella when Percy suddenly stops, making her turn to look back at him. 

"Wait," he says, and she frowns at him. He shakes his hand free of hers for a moment and pulls the ring from his finger, walking back and crouching down so he can tuck it into the little pocket in the side of his backpack where he stowed hers earlier. He stands again. "Okay." 

She raises an eyebrow. "I thought you said I was thinking too much?" 

A small smirk spreads across his face before he rejoins her, taking her hand once more. "Your paranoia is infectious, dear." 

"Sorry," she says with a smile. 

"Don't be." And with that, Percy shrugs off his hoodie, scars be damned, and tosses it back onto the towels. 

When they walk into the water, they do it together, hands clasped. 


End file.
